Irmtraud Fischer is professor of Old Testament and women's studies (theology) at the University of Bonn, as well as chair of Old Testament studies at the University of Graz, Austria. President of the European Society for Women's Research in Theology, Fischer was given the 2003 Bad Herrenalber Akademie Preis.

• ContentsForeword to the First German Edition  viiForeword to the Second German Edition  viii1.  The “Fathers” and the Beginnings of the People—An Introduction to Israel’s Ancestors  12.  Sarah, Hagar, and Abraham: Scenes From a Marriage Under the Promise  72.1 Diagnosis: “Barren!”—Yhwh promises many descendants  72.2 Sarah’s abandonment and rescue  92.3 A life between promise and fulfillment  132.4 A human attempt to fulfill the promise  142.5 Hagar: From oppression to liberation—and back again  172.6 The story of a climber  202.7 “Where is Sarah, your wife?”  212.8 The alienation of female experience  242.9 The abandonment of the old bearer of the promise  282.10 The immunity of the prophet Abraham  312.11 Isaac, the son who makes them laugh  332.12 “Drive out this servant woman and her son!”  352.13 “Sacrifice your son, your only son!”  382.14 God tests the righteous  432.15 A grave for Sarah  453. Rebecca: A Strong Woman With a Colorless Husband  473.1 A woman in the male family tree  473.2 The bearer of the promise seeks a daughter in-law  483.3 Encounter at the well—this time without a bridegroom  503.4 Rebecca’s decision: “I will go!”  523.5 “Who is that man?”  543.6 Rebecca questions Yhwh  543.7 A marriage between tenderness and betrayal  563.8 The mother’s favorite son  593.9 Rebecca seeks a daughter in-law  633.10 Yhwh confirms Rebecca’s choice  644. Rachel and Leah: The Founders of the House of Israel  664.1 The stone of opening, the stone of stumbling  664.2 Seven years of service for the wrong bride  68Excursus: A Lesson in Marriage Law  724.3 The man’s love, or many children  734.4 Two women who wrestled with God  754.5 Love potions, homeopathy, and male sexuality for sale  784.6 The family sticks together for the first time:Yhwh calls them to return home  804.7 Again the danger of losing everything  854.8 The man who wrestled with God  864.9 Reunion with Esau: Rachel receives the greatest protection  874.10 The desire for children, and death  885. Dark Sides of the Family Chronicle  915.1 The rape of Dinah—An insult to male honor?  91Excursus: A Lesson in Penal Law  925.2 Don’t trust anybody about marriage!  955.3 The escalation of vengeance  975.4 The story of Dinah in its canonical context  985.5 Reuben breaks the taboo  995.6 Kidnapping in the house of Jacob  1005.7 The betrayer grows old: The resumé of his life  1025.8 Judah in the tradition of the line of promise  1035.9 Tamar is to remain a widow for life  1055.10 The prostitute at the gate  1075.11 “She is more just than I!”  1095.12 Tamar, the woman who founded the house of Judah  1116. Subversive Women at the Beginnings of the People in Egypt  1136.1 A little people becomes a “great nation” of the promise  1136.2 Oppression  1156.3 The midwives, Shiphrah and Puah  1166.4 From intimidation to genocide  1176.5 Women with civil courage: mother, sister, king’s daughter  1186.6 The infancy story of Moses—or the beginnings of liberation through women’s resistance?  1216.7 Women’s learning communities and experiences in male society  1226.8 The horizon of experience for the ancestors and their God  1246.9 The call to liberate the people  1267.  Naomi and Ruth: The Unconventional Women Ancestors of the Royal House of David  1297.1 Refugees from famine  1297.2 Naomi and her daughters-in-law  1307.3 Naomi and the women of Bethlehem  1337.4 Bread from the daughter in-law  1347.5 Ruth and Boaz  1367.6 Creative interpretation of the levirate obligation  1377.7 A woman like Israel’s ancestral women  1397.8 A daughter in-law: worth more than seven sons!  1417.9 King David’s great-grandmother  1427.10 Interpretation of the book of Ruth through its different locations in the canon  1437.11 The book of Ruth in messianic perspective  1458. Women Who Wrestled With God  146

Fischer effectively shows that the biblical text embodies a tension between authors and redactors who were sympathetic toward the women in these ancient stories and others whose work perpetuates an andocentric and patriarchal perspective. This reviewer highly recommends this book for anyone interested in the history of Israel’s origins.Journal of Hebrew Scriptures